Educate students on healthy relationships and family planning…in order to help community college students finish their education and then plan for a family when the time is right.

This raises questions about why community colleges lack a comprehensive health system, and where services like contraception and family planning are available to students.

What more than half do not have, however, is what four-year colleges and universities have offered for years: comprehensive health services, including daily clinics and nurses who provide up-to-date health information, do physical examinations and prescribe or dispense contraception.

The apparent reasoning behind this gap in services is that lack of funding for community colleges, money which often goes instead to the four-year institutions. The Obama Administration has made it clear they’d like to put more of an emphasis on community colleges, but it’s not clear that they’re looking to address the need for better on-campus health services.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, Latino undergraduates are more likely to be enrolled in a two year institution. This means that Latinas are being shorthanded when it comes to resources on family planning. By providing services to reduce unplanned pregnancies, Latinas will have a better chance in graduating from school and having the opportunity to continue on to a four-year institution.

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I agree that community colleges should provide reproductive health services. I wonder if this is complicated at all by the residence of students in community colleges versus that of students at universities. I am under the impression that many students at universities are immersed in new communities while those at community colleges remain in their communities, so perhaps there is the idea that these students will know where to go to find these types of services.

For my undergraduate and graduate degrees, I attended first a state and then a private university. Each time I lived off campus. Having student health services, including access to reproductive and sexual health, was a benefit that I greatly relied upon. It should be available to all students, regardless of whether they attend a university or a community college.

Community colleges should absolutely offer similar student health services if they are interested in investing in the academic and future success of their students. Any student — whether enrolled at a private 4-year university or a community college — is struggling financially, often without health insurance, making healthcare a luxury. Community colleges can find any number of creative ways to resource and provide a student health center, including partnering with local healthcare providers or university schools of medicine.

Rosario raises an interesting point. My knowledge of this subject is entirely based on my experience as an undergraduate at a private four-year university. During and after our freshman orientation, we received a lot of information about healthy relationships, family planning, and the resources available to us as students (including information about off-campus clinics, hot lines, etc.). In addition to the services provided at our health center, student groups offered free HIV testing several times a year. Our residential counselors even had condoms on their doors. I’m not sure whether or not this was unique to my school, but I believe that any student should have access to such information and resources regardless of the institution s/he attends.